On Monday afternoon, Russell Hubright, a spokesman for the South Carolina Forestry Commission, confirmed that 12,590 acres of woodlands at Table Rock Mountain had burned since a fire began there on March 21.
That includes 574 acres burned across the border, in Transylvania County, N.C.; and that makes the Table Rock fire the largest wildfire in the Upstate’s history.
That distinction was previously held by a fire at Pinnacle Mountain (part of the Table Rock Complex) in 2016. About 10,000 acres burned there over the course of a month that fall.
But Hubright also confirmed that 30% of the Table Rock fire was now contained – containment referring to how confident fire crews are that fire lines carved out to stop the blaze from spreading will hold.
That’s a far cry from even late last week, when, after daily doubling in size, the fires at Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge each remained 0% contained.
By Monday afternoon, the fire at Persimmon Ridge had surpassed 2,000 acres, but was two-thirds contained, according to Hubright.
Weather changes have helped
Much of the reason that fire crews could not get a toehold on the blazes last week had to do with weather – including the long-game effects of weather from last autumn.
Last week’s weather was dry and sunny, windy and barely humid – already prime conditions for a fire to grow out of control. But added to the mix were thousands of acres of downed trees and limbs, strewn across rugged terrain, by Hurricane Helene and other storms.
All that fuel and all those obstacles made getting ahead of the fires difficult.
But on Saturday, the air in Pickens and Greenville counties, where Table Rock Mountain and Pinnacle Ridge are, respectively, got more humid ahead of a line of severe weather in the Southeast, and which hit South Carolina on Monday.
“We’re very thankful for the moderated weather conditions we had on Saturday, which allowed us to do a pretty major burnout on the west side of the Table Rock fire and also slowed fire activity elsewhere,” Hubright said.
Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship called the rain “an absolute blessing.”
SCETV Chief Meteorologist Tim Miller said that rainfall from Monday’s storms, even with the potential for heavy winds, will do much to help fire crews stay on top of the blazes.
“A lot more rain would certainly be helpful, and we’ll certainly have some more opportunities for that later on in the week,” Tim said. “But this is the biggest opportunity we’ll receive with these storms moving on through.”
Hubright added that the round-the-clock air and groundwork – “taking a lot of the smoldering debris, turning it over, spraying water on it, and doing that over and over again” – allowed fire crews to make real progress on containing the blazes.
“It’s really arduous, drudgery work, but it has to be done just to make sure the fire won’t spread again,” he said.
Evacuations rescinded, charges pending
While a lot of work to get the fires tamped out remains ahead, the progress made has allowed evacuation orders to be rescinded throughout Monday for residents of the areas near Table Rock Mountain and Persimmon Ridge.
Blankenship said his office also can now pull back on its support role. Pickens County deputies have had to patrol for looters and residents who disobeyed evacuation orders; they’ve also had to make sure that roads were cleared for emergency crews to get in and out of the Table Rock Complex.
Patrols will still back up specific entrances for crews, he said, but no longer need to shut off whole roads.
Blankenship also said that charges against those suspected of starting the fires could come as early as Monday. The South Carolina Forestry Commission will seek arrest warrants and handle the investigation, he said.
Last week, Blankenship told reporters that a group of teens, hikers, were responsible for starting the fire at Table Rock. He said the responsible parties would be held accountable.
Correction: The original story cited the Table Rock Mountain fire as the largest wildfire ever to hit South Carolina. It is the largest ever to hit the Upstate.
